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UPPER THUMB — With about three more weeks left to file, at least two candidates have dropped out of the race to represent the Thumb in Washington, but four Republicans have officially signed on.

Up for grabs is a two-year term to Michigan’s 10th District, which includes Huron, Tuscola, Sanilac, Lapeer, St. Clair and Macomb. Outgoing Congresswoman Candice Miller has represented the district since 2003. The Harrison Township Republican says she won’t seek an eighth term.

Former State Sen. Alan Sanborn, who announced in April 2015 he would run, is the latest to officially join the race.

Sanborn, 58, of Mount Clemens and now living in Richmond, was consecutively named “Michigan’s Most Conservative Legislator” during his time as senator, from 2003 to 2011, according to his website. He says he focuses on core conservative issues, including preserving family values, lowering taxes and eliminating spending waste, defending the nation’s borders and strengthening the military.

Pavlov, 52, a St. Clair Township Republican who won election in 2014 to Michigan’s 25th District to represent Huron, Sanilac, St. Clair and Macomb counties, made his bid for Miller’s seat shortly after she said she would not run again. Pavlov is a former small business owner and county commissioner. He says government should provide education, public safety and infrastructure, and not impose tax increases, and that the private sector better performs many functions than state government does.

Mitchell, 59, is a Dryden Township Republican, millionaire business investor and small farm owner. He prides himself in leading a grassroots effort to defeat Proposal 1 in 2015, a controversial plan to fund roads that voters overwhelmingly turned down.

He said he wants to bring to Washington the “same conservative values that crushed Proposal 1.”

State Rep. Forlini, 54, is a former Harrison Township supervisor and small business owner. He says he’s an outspoken advocate for fiscal responsibility, family values, water quality, agriculture and tourism.

No Democrats are on file to run. Deadline to file is 4 p.m. April 19; deadline to withdraw is the same time on April 22. The primary election is Aug. 2 and general Nov. 8.

There are, however, Democrats vying for a two-year term in the 84th District State Representative race for Huron and Tuscola counties.

Chuck Stadler, 63, of Vassar and Jim Wencel, 62, of Bad Axe have both filed on the Democratic ticket.

Stadler, a contractor and former Vassar Township trustee, unsuccessfully challenged Candice Miller during the 2012 and 2014 elections to the U.S. House to represent the state’s 10th Congressional District in Washington.

Wencel, a retired school superintendent, previously said his first time running for any public office was in 2014 when he ran on the Republican ticket for the 84th state representative seat. Then, seven Republicans battled for the primary win. Wencel lost to current State Rep. and Sebewaing Republican Ed Canfield, 60, who is in his first term and says he will seek reelection.

Wencel wrote in a December 2015 Facebook post he would be “changing parties and running as a fiscally conservative Democrat,” adding it was a “very hard decision for me to make because I have been a Republican all of my adult life” and that he aligns with Democrats on public school and other education issues.SClB